About this guy

I'm in my mid-20's, a father, fiance, news reporter and anchor at BIG 105.5 & 106.7 The Drive in Red Deer, Alberta. I also fill in when needed on Red Deer Rebels WHL game nights as broadcast host. Yes I hail from the one and only Surrey, BC. Formerly a broadcaster in 100 Mile House, BC and the first ever Play-by-Play announcer for the 100 Mile Wranglers of the KIJHL. I am a graduate of Columbia Academy in Vancouver with a diploma in Broadcasting Performing Arts. Go Canucks, Whitecaps, Lions, Blue Jays and Rebels.

The views presented on this page do not represent the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

Come ooooon everybody, only 4 people are inducted each year! What do you expect?

There is no way to make everyone happy. Someone is always going to get the snub. Ya I do think Pat Burns deserves a spot. I’m on the fence about Bure and Shero, well I’m frankly not too familiar with him. But if those guys truly deserve to be there, their days will come.

If you want more info on each of this year’s inductees, click their name in the first paragraph.

The last two cracks at winning the World Junior Hockey Championship for Canada have been failed attempts, but the upcoming Summer Development Camp looks very promising. In addition to seven players who are returning from last year’s silver medal winning squad, Vancouver Giant Brendan Gallagher will return for his 2nd camp.

Gallagher, who hails from Delta, BC, will join 12 other players from the WHL, as well as 22 from the OHL, 9 from the QMJHL and 2 NCAA players at the evaluation camp. Gallagher was exceptional this past season, becoming a 1st team WHL Western Conference All-Star and setting career highs in goals (44), assists (47), points (91) and plus/minus (+30). The 19 year old Canadiens draft pick says, “After getting cut last year, one my goal’s heading into this season is to make the team and the first step to achieving that goal is to make an impression at the summer camp.” Gallagher has scored 95 goals over the last 2 seasons in the Dub and that includes back to back 40+ goal outputs.

Arguably what could be the biggest advantage and best thing going for Team Canada and Gallagher is that Don Hay is coaching the team. With Hay being Gallagher’s head coach in Van City, the young forward is familiar with his coaching style, and obviously has a good rep with the man who last coached Canada’s World Junior team in 1995. Hay, who is from Kamloops, is 57 this year and says, “You have to change with the times or else you get left behind!” He’s proven he can do that by taking the Giants to the Memorial Cup two years in a row (06 & 07) and winning it in 2007.

Don’t get the kid wrong, he knows he can’t take Don Hay being head coach for granted.

“If I’m not working hard and playing with intensity, he’s not going to pick me.”

The camp goes August 3-7 in Edmonton as the players hope to become familiar with the venue in which half of the tournament will be played, Rexall Place. The other half will take place in Calgary at the Saddledome this December.

Yesterday was Day 1 of HNIC’s Play On Street Hockey tournament at Metrotown and I was taking part for the first time. Of course, you only make it to day 2 if you play well enough on Day 1.

Our team was called the W.A.S.P.’s and our first game was at 8:40am. Keep in mind this was the first time any of us had played an actual game together. We’d never practiced or anything.

The games are split into two 15 minute halves with a 5 minute break in between halves. It was the second half yesterday morning, when I was on a breakaway, deked to the left and my right knee just gave out on me. I missed the net too but besides that, I crumpled to the ground in pain.

I got up after a minute and walked it off, but didn’t play again in that game.

Our next game was scheduled for 1:20, so I got some ice between games and tried to make my knee feel better. It did feel a little better but leading up to the game, I was walking around a bit and it started to hurt a bit more. Well, I played anyways, which is a decision I’d like to say I don’t regret, but I kinda do. I ended up re-aggravating it badly and it was about 20x worse after the game than it was prior. What’s amazing I like to think is that I scored a goal as the ball squirted through the goalie’s pads and sat on the goal line. I made a quick jab at it and it went across the line. That cut the score to about 15-2.

It’s funny because we were in the division called Muckers. It’s essentially for beginner teams. There is no way in hell that any of the 3 teams we played that day (minus myself for the 3rd), should have been in our division. They were faster, and had much better control. It was clear they could’ve played in a higher division.

Anyways, the 2nd game ended, and I went to first aid, got some more ice then went and sat down with my friends. I told them I couldn’t go that evening for the 5:20 game. It sucked but my knee was effed right up. They understood and I asked one of them to walk with me home, which is like 5 minutes from Metrotown. About 1/4 of the way there, well..before we could get out of the Metrotown Parking lot, I was like, “I really think I should go to the hospital and get an x-ray so my pal helped me get over to the first aid again. I basically was Gandalfing it with my hockey stick. When we crossed the street, I even held my stick up to a car and said, “You shall not pass!”

So we get to the first aid, I’m in agony, and they give me some oxygen and call an ambulance. I ended up going in the ambulance, (which was my first time in one) and headed to Burnaby General. It was also my first time with laughing gas. It didn’t make me laugh and unfortunately, did not dull the pain. I was talking to the paramedic in the ambulance when he was asking me questions and I told him all I was trying to do was be like RYAN KESLER, playing on one leg and all. He laughed and reminded me that Kesler is making millions of dollars. We got to the hospital, I waited what felt like an hour in agonizing pain before a doctor saw me and gave me some morphine.

Rest of the long story short, I am now typing this to you from home…with torn cartilage and pulled muscles around my knee (I can’t remember exactly what he said). My leg is all wrapped up and I am on crutches for at least 4 days he said, at which point, I should re-evaluate my pain level. He prescribed me physio so this knee problem doesn’t linger and that should start within a couple weeks.

It sucks because I probably won’t be in a position to go downtown tomorrow for the Canucks game, but I’ll enjoy a cup win from my own living room just as much.

I went downtown tonight to the CBC Studios at Hamilton & Georgia to catch Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. While I am extremely satisfied with the end result of the game, I am very disappointed with how the entire CBC, closed street, outdoor screen experience turned out. Here is my list of peeves from tonight:

CONS:

-The “Big Screen” isn’t really that big
-The screen has a poor picture
-The resolution of the picture didn’t even fit the screen
-THE TV FROZE DURING THE FINAL 5 MINUTES OF THE 2ND PERIOD
-People were smoking cigarettes and cigars…and POT in the portable washrooms
-They had an alcohol check when you enter but clearly no one was checking for marijuana
-People were standing; should be a rule to be sitting like at a game
-The standing ruined sight lines and it we had to keep asking people to move

PROS:

-The sound quality was excellent and perfectly audible
-Food carts were easily accessible (expensive though)
-There were plenty of portable washrooms (although you had to walk through a sea of people to get to the one location they were at)

I know a lot of people will say, “Well, the reason they have it set up is for the atmosphere, not the size or quality of the TV, but ya know what, for some people who take watching these games seriously, the true fans who can’t afford to go to the game, want to watch on a decent screen. The atmosphere was great right at the end of the game, but of course that wasn’t throughout.

I would suggest for the future that CBC actually does this by selling tickets, FOR FREE OF COURSE, but have tickets so that you have control over thing like how many people are coming in, and so that people are guaranteed a specific seat. It would not take too much effort to set up seats all over that street and set up a couple more screens for people to watch.

Maybe I just shouldn’t complain and instead just not go down there anymore. I’m sure some people loved it, but I personally would’ve found a bar somewhere or even watched at home in my living room.